January 2010

One of the greenest ways of getting around is electric streetcars. These elegant, comfortable rail vehicles use far less energy than cars, can draw their power from sources other than fossil fuels, are much more attractive than buses and can shape development.

Once the primary means of getting around, streetcars were targeted for elimination by a combination of an apathetic public sold on the vision of unlimited mobility, not realizing that the dark side of congestion and environmental destruction lay just around the corner and by the beneficiary car and tire makers and petroleum companies. Now streetcars have been making a comeback in cities throughout North America.

During the third quarter 2009, the small Danish island of Samsø reported 4000 residents, with no grants or funding, switched almost completely to renewable energy through a combination of community owned wind turbines, district heat plants (run on local biomass) and offshore turbines (installed to offset the emissions of the island's transport). The island is self-sufficient, and produces 140% of the energy it consumes and is exporting energy back to the mainland. That is amazing!

Al Gore's book in the early 90s, "Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit," and Rich Tehrani of TMC's Green Technology World in September 2007 sparked a variety of responses: apathy, ridicule, inspiration, and action for many regarding green technology. It takes brave people to suggest change. In fact, climate change and other environmental change activists publicize ideas, but the actual implementations depend upon service and product providers making changes. The innovations must lead to environmentally-friendly services that are attractive to and purchased by users.